Spain

[ES] Non Adoption of Three Bills on the Creation of a Regulatory Authority for the Broadcasting Sector

IRIS 2001-2:1/18

Alberto Pérez Gómez

Entidad publica empresarial RED.ES

Spain is one of the few countries within the European Union and the Council of Europe in which the main authority for the audio-visual sector is not an independent regulatory body. There is a regulatory authority in Catalonia (Consell de l'Audiovisual de Catalunya) and, at national level, there is an independent authority, the Comisión del Mercado de las Telecomunicaciones (Telecommunications Market Commission), which has some powers concerning the audio-visual sector. However, at national level the authority that has power to enforce most of the provisions related to Spanish media Law is the Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología (Ministry for Science and Technology).

In April and May 2000, three opposition parliamentary groups presented bills on the creation of an independent national regulatory authority for the broadcasting sector. On 21 November 2000, the bills were voted on in the Congreso (Lower House) in order to decide whether they were going to be accepted for further discussion or rejected. The bills were rejected by the Popular Party, which considered that these bills did not provide adequate solutions to some problems raised by convergence and that it would be better to wait until the Government presented its bill on this subject (scheduled for 2001). Some parties that also opposed the bills urged the Government to meet its obligations in this field.


References




  • Toma en consideración de Proposiciones de Ley presentadas por el Partido Socialista, Izquierda Unida y el Grupo Mixto. Diario de Sesiones del Congreso de los Diputados - Pleno, VII Legislatura - nº 42, Sesión Plenaria nº 40, 21 de Noviembre de 2000, pp. 2058-2067
  • http://www.congreso.es/public_oficiales/L7/CONG/DS/PL/PL_042.PDF

This article has been published in IRIS Legal Observations of the European Audiovisual Observatory.